Anubis (Anepo) was an ancient Egyptian god. He was the son of Osiris and Isis. He was depicted as having the head of a jackal. He guided the souls of the dead from this world into the next. He also weighed the actions of the deceased in the presence of Osiris.

In Egyptian mythology, Seth (Set) was the devil and enemy of Osiris. He was the god of evil and the desert, of storms and chaos. Antelope (symbols of Osiris and Horus) were sacrificed to him. Seth was jealous of his elder brother Osiris, and murdered him, appointing himself king of Egypt. Seth was killed by Horus, son of Osiris, who took the throne. Sth was depicted as part pig and part ass.

In Egyptian mythology, Isis (Aset) was the daughter of Nut and Geb and the sister of Osiris, Set and Nebthet. She and Osiris had a dual function as fertility gods: she over saw love and union, he was the god of growth. They ruled Egypt as husband and wife; he taught his subjects the rule of law and respect for the gods; she taught them marriage, household management and medicine. After Osiris was drowned and dismembered by their jealous brother Seth, Isis used her medical skills first to impregnate herself with the last drop of semen in her consort's penis, and then to reassemble the corpse and bring it back to life. The first magic worked, and she became pregnant with Horus. But the gods refused to let Osiris return to the world of mortals, and he went to rule in the Underworld, leaving Isis vowing revenge on Set. Instead of fighting him herself, she encouraged Horus to take every chance to try to kill him, and when this proved impossible she arranged for Horus to humiliate and disempower Set. In some accounts this happened when Horus castrated Set in a duel, fit punishment for Set's crime of cutting off Osiris' penis and throwing it into the Nile.

In the complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt there are a few pages dedicated to Wepwawet. I don't really feel like typing it all out, but if you want a copy, PM me with your email addy and I will scan it in and send it to you.

OK I lied... just tried to scan in and send it to myself and it is too big for hotmail to send so, I will start typing.. I have a thing at my daughter's scholl in about 1/2 hour but will start again when I get back.. hopefully will be done today.. I will try and at least upload the pics included.

Here you go... I will start trying to get the pics uploaded now Wepwawet
Mythology:
Wepwawet was possibly the oldest of Egypt’s jackal gods, being already represented on one of the standards preceding the king on the Narmer’s Palette at the dawn of Egypt’s historical period and attested by name from the 3rd dynasty. The archaeological evidence indicates that the god’s origins were probably in the region of Upper Egypt, but his worship soon spread; and in the Pyramid Texts he is even said to have been born in the Lower Egyptian shrine of Wadjet (PT 1438). Wepwawet translates as ‘opener of the ways’, but the meaning of the god’s name is susceptible to a number of interpretations. Based on the god’s frequently attested warlike character, it could refer to the opening of the ways before the king in terms of military conquest. In the context of ‘adze of Wepwawet’ which was used in the ‘opening of the mouth’ ritual, it could also refer to the magical opening of the deceased king’s eyes and mouth, and in funerary texts Wepwawet also ‘opened the ways’ in leading the deceased through the netherworld and the king to ascension (PT 1009). The title could be even understood in a cosmic sense as he is said to open the way for the sun to rise in the sky (PT 455). As ‘leader of the gods’, the image of Wepwawet went before the king and before other gods in many events and the name could possibly relate to his leading of these ritual processions. Finally, in the Memphite Theology we find the expression ‘the opener of the body. Wepwawet’, so that as the firstborn the god could be seen as the opener of the way of the womb. Wepwawet and Anubis are sometimes confused – even in ancient texts – but it is clear that they were independent deities. On the other hand, Wepwawet may have been synonymous with the god Sed who was depicted as a canid atop an identical standard in early times. In a less direct manner, Wepwawet was identified with the god Horus and could also be associated with the sun god in the form of Wepwawet-Re.

Iconography:
Wepwawet was usually depicted in the form of a jackal or other wild canid and occasionally as a jackal-headed man. In zoomorphic form the god may be differentiated from Anubis when colour is present, as Anubis was usually depicted as black and Wepwawet, grey. When standing, the latter animal was also characteristically depicted with its sloping back legs together rather than apart. But as a jackal-headed man the god often appears indistinguishable from Anubis and can then only be differentiated by a naming text, if not by attributes of mace and bow. In vignettes of the 138th chapter of the Book of the Dead Anubis and Wepwawet are depicted on either side of a representation of Osiris. As symbols of north and south or east and west are also usually depicted on each side, it seems clear that the two gods could have symbolic orientational significance – with Anubis often being linked to the north and Wepwawet the south. When depicted on his standard, Wepwawet usually has before him a peculiar bolster-like emblem called the shedshed which may have represented the royal placenta which was regarded as the kings ‘double’.

Worship:

In later historical times the major cult centre of Wepwawet was at Asyut in Middle Egypt which was called by Egyptians Zauty and by Greeks called Lykopolis or ‘wolf city’. The god was also venerated at Abydos in connection with Osiris. There Wepwawet went before the ritual funerary procession of the netherworld god. And on a funerary stelae from this site it is common for the deceased to wish to ‘behold the beauty of Wepwawet during the procession’. The god was also depicted on standards placed before the tombs in some depictions of funerary ceremonies. While infrequently found in expressions of popular veneration, Wepwawet appears in some theophoric names – as in the name of King Wepwawetemsaf of the 13th dynasty.

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